


Six The Alien

by songofsunset



Series: Mantid Aliens [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Aliens, Death, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 15:30:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11107473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songofsunset/pseuds/songofsunset
Summary: Mantid aliens with limited neuroplasticity and how they relate to death.An original sci-fi work posted on tumblr in January of 2016. Posted to Ao3 to centralize things, and to celebrate (nearly) 100,000 notes on the post!Later I'll add the rest of the stories I've written with these aliens as well.Main post here.Masterpost here.





	1. Chapter 1

**Alien:** So you’re saying that human brains sometimes just… malfunction? And see threats that aren’t really there?

 **Human:** Yeah basically?

 **Alien:** And then the human keeps living and doing things anyways???

 **Human:** Yup

 **Alien:** Woahhhhhh. Woahhhhh. Humans are badass.

\------

Aliens would probably have fundamentally different responses to trauma than humans would. 

Like- their brains would be so fundamentally different at a basic chemical and structural level that we’d have to relearn _everything_.

In this scenario the alien species is REALLY BAD at continuing to function with even a slightly impaired brain, and deals with it via LOTS OF BABIES

'Oh yeah great grandpa died three years back when he got really surprised'

and, 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT A HUMAN GOT STABBED THROUGH THE HEAD AND CONTINUED TO LIVE I DON’T BELIEVE YOU THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE'

I bet they are all pregnant all the time and when they randomly die the baby eats their way out of the corpse

They are insectoid and look a lot like praying manti and they REALLY FREAK OUT THEIR HUMAN FRIENDS THE FIRST TIME IT HAPPENS

There is a sort of generational memory that happens which is how they managed to develop tech at all being so fragile

So when the creatures get depressed or homesick or manic and die it’s not like their human friends have lost them forever

Except for how it sort of is.

\------

PLEASE IMAGINE THE FIRST TIME AN ALIEN HAS ONE OF THEIR HUMAN FRIENDS DIE

‘so hey, that was a great funeral, cool outfits, always glad to learn more about your culture and stuff. So, when is she coming back?’

‘She- she’s not coming back’

‘Yeah, not as _Megan_ , but when is her replacement coming back?’

‘We’re- not hiring anyone new for a couple weeks???’

‘no no no, you’re not getting what I’m saying- I want to ask her about that book she lent me- can I keep it for another week or two, or does her new version want it back?’

The humans stare at the alien and just. slowly start to figure out what the alien is saying. The alien shuffles nervously, their six spindly legs making a skritching noise that echoes in the cold chapel. Finally, the kindest of the humans takes the alien aside and-

‘hey. so. Us humans don’t come back when we die. Not like you do.’

‘what? No, but you clearly talk about reincarnation, and-’

‘Those are just stories, Six. When humans die, we’re gone. We don’t come back.’

The alien laughs ‘No, see, cuz that would mean that- that would mean. That Megan- Megan is-’ The alien cuts off the hissing noise that is their equivalent of a sob. ‘I have to go.’

The alien spends a week in their spaceship, the only place they can send communication to their Mother. When they come back, their carapace is a glistening new shade of red, and they’ve ended up as a different gender. When the lab adviser asks them how they are feeling about Megan-

‘Megan? Oh, yes, my previous version was very fond of Megan.’ The alien cocks their head, like a particularly thoughtful bird. ‘I suppose that I regret her loss. She was a valuable member of the team.’ 

The lab adviser lets this be- they _are_ aliens after all. But later, when lab hours are done, the adviser notices Six double and triple-checking all the lab equipment, especially- well. The accident that took Megan will never happen again.  

The book is never returned.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only part of the original post I didn't write was the ending, where the mantid learns about human pregnancy.
> 
> I've written my own take on the concept, but the original on the post was written by audiencecat and can be found [here](http://audiencecat.tumblr.com/post/139096936480/songofsunset-fireandwonder-songofsunset).

Anna is pregnant, and Sixpointtwo is mourning.

Not Mourning with a capital M, not in the way that would break him again, not so soon. But he sees the oncoming loss, and braces for it, and it sits sweet and aching in his stomachs.

He will be happy for the child, when it comes. Happy to raise it, happy to play with it, happy to carry it around on his back like his predecessor had done with Megan, back when they'd first met. 

_For humans, death is permanent._

But oh, he will miss Anna in his life. 

Anna's wife seems fine with the situation, talks cheerfully about crib choices and room decorations. _Everyone_  is happy, and no one is mourning, and Sixpointtwo does not understand.

This is not unusual, when dealing with humans. They are a weird species, and react in weird ways, and every time he thinks he understands them- well. 

_For humans, death is permanent._

Maybe they do not mourn because they are so used to it, this final death, this suffering. Maybe it is because somehow, unchecked sorrow will not kill them, because they can survive pain so intense that Sixpointtwo can only remember it in echoes, because they call that survival commonplace. 

Sixpointtwo wishes he had their strength.

"Hey, Point Two," Anna says, one day when he is visiting. He visits often, these days. "Come help me choose a paint color for the playroom."

Sixpointtwo does.

He does, and because he cares about her he does not say 'why aren't you scared to die, Anna, why aren't you holding your wife and saying your goodbyes?' he does not say 'I will miss you and I love you and I'm scared to lose you, I'm so scared to lose you-' and he does not say 'please don't leave me.'

He just peers at the swatches with his left eye, and his right, and the three smaller eyes on his forehead... then turns to her with a quirk of his antennae and twitch of his mandibles and reminds her that they see in entirely different color spectrums. 

She laughs and laughs and laughs, and when she is done laughing she tells him to pick whichever he prefers anyways. 'You're going to be spending a lot of time there, after all, and I want you to enjoy it.' 

He chooses the teal, and she calls it a good choice. Megan had liked that color, she tells him.   
  
_For humans..._

Sixpointtwo spends as much time with Anna as he can. 

Anna goes to the hospital, eventually, sweating and groaning through contractions, and Sixpointtwo goes with her. He wills the car to drive faster, wills the baby to eat slower, wills the world to give him and Anna just a little more time...

Anna's wife meets them there, and Sixpointtwo is left alone in the corner of the sitting room, staring around at the magazines and too-small chairs, smelling coffee and antiseptic. 

It makes sense, he supposes, for the birth-death to happen in the hospital. Humans are so fond of their cleanliness (except when they aren't.) Maybe it relaxes them. Maybe it's just one of those weird cultural things he can never hope to understand. Maybe he's just a slob. 

Down the hallway, someone screams. 

Time crawls by. People filter in and out of the room, staring at him, or flinching, or walking quickly away. Sixpointtwo ignores them, rocking slightly, hoping the baby will like him, hoping nothing goes wrong... and hoping with all his soul that he'll be able to see Anna one last time before she dies.

_For humans, death-_

"Six!" says Anna's wife, and Sixpointtwo looks up at her, heart in his throat. "Come on, Anna wants to see you!"

Something inside Sixpointtwo melts in relief. She wants to see him. She's alive, and she's going to say goodbye to him. She's not gone, there's still time, there's still-

"In here," says Anna's wife. "They're both in here, go ahead, you've got to see-"

And there she is. There Anna is, tired, and sweaty, and alivealivealive, and Sixpointtwo thinks this must be what humans feel like when they start to cry.   
  
'Anna', he signs 'Anna I'm so glad you're still here, I'm going to miss you and-'

In Anna's arms, something burbles.

Something small, and blobby, and pink, and it's wearing a hat, like a person, and has hands like a person, and _almost_ has a face like a person, and-

"Come see him, Point Two," Anna says. "Come say hello to my child." 

Sixpointtwo does. 

\------

Anna's wife explains it to him later, when Anna is nursing the baby. 

"Oh Six, I'm so sorry- I didn't know. Do Mantids only ever have the one way of having babies?"

Sixpointtwo shrugs. Not most of them, anyways, not usually. 

"She's fine, Six, she's fine and she's gonna keep being fine. For humans-"

For humans, she says, sometimes birth brings death. But not always. These days, not even usually. 

_For humans, death is permanent._

_For humans, birth is not an end._


End file.
